The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority on Jan. 14 approved the merger between local lenders Vestjysk Bank A/S and Den Jyske Sparekasse A/S.
The approval comes after the lenders' shareholders greenlighted the proposal to implement their merger, which was cleared by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority in December 2020.
The deal, under which the total assets and liabilities of Den Jyske Sparekasse will be transferred to Vestjysk Bank, will create the eighth-largest bank in Denmark in terms of working capital, the companies previously said.
The merger will now be implemented by registration with the Danish Business Authority, whereby Den Jyske Sparekasse will cease operations as an independent legal entity.
Den Jyske Sparekasse's shares will also be removed from trading and delisted from Nasdaq Copenhagen, with Jan. 14 being the last day of trading. Vestjysk Bank is expected to be admitted to trading on the exchange Jan. 15.
The approved resolution related to the merger also included a proposal to increase Vestjysk Bank's share capital by a nominal value of about 337.6 million kroner to a nominal value of roughly 1.23 billion kroner, the lender said Jan. 13.
Meanwhile, Niels Fessel, Lars Langhoff, Jan Nordstrøm and Hanne Træholt Odegaard were elected as new members of Vestjysk Bank's board of directors during the lender's Jan. 13 extraordinary general meeting. Fessel, who was previously chairman of Den Jyske Sparekasse, was elected vice chairman of the combined entity, which will continue under the name and logo of Vestjysk Bank.
The combined entity's board of directors will consist of Vestjysk Bank Chairman Kim Duus and Fessel as vice chairman upon implementation of the merger and until the 2022 annual general meeting. Lars Holst, who was Vestjysk Bank's vice chairman prior to the merger, remains part of the board of directors.
Vestjysk Bank CEO Jan Ulsø Madsen will continue to lead the executive board, with Claus Petersen, previously head of Den Jyske Sparekasse, as deputy CEO. The executive board also includes Michael Petersen and Torben Sørensen, who comes from Den Jyske Sparekasse, as managing directors.
As of Jan. 13, US$1 was equivalent to 6.12 Danish kroner.
